No Shrink Condensed Milk Cheesecake

Up till about the 1980, cheesecake was unheard of in Singapore. We had only cakes from confectioneries with loads of Swiss meringue, they are in all shapes and sizes.

I learned how to make cheesecakes around late 1980s, and was amazed by it. It is a totally different taste that does not involve butter. One thing I remember, is that making cheesecakes in Singapore always involved using condensed milk. In fact, a lot of baking required condensed milk. All households had some condensed milk stored away in a jar somewhere in the house.

Condensed milk was a staple in many families, and it is no wonder it also became a staple in our recipes. We hardly heard of creams and buttermilk, just always condensed milk. Creams and whipped creams also appeared in bakes about middle 1980s.

I saw a friend post her condensed cheesecake and she asked me what the problem was. There was a separation of the mixture and a higher temperature at the beginning of the bake should settle it. But it pique my interest to develop a spongy cheesecake using condensed milk. Ah, spongy cheesecakes are even later additions to the Singapore diet.

The first spongy cheesecakes, or Japanese cheesecakes appeared around mid 1990s, and at Yaohan, a Japanese departmental store. They had branches at Orchard and Thomson, but they closed down in 1997 and exited from Singapore. Yaohan brought lots of great teenage memories for me, when I grew up loving their snacks. Japanese soft cheesecakes were one of them.

This cheesecake does not shrink after baking, should not crack and is easy to bake. I like simple recipes, so this is one. My scale is out of battery, so I created this recipe using the tablespoon. I have converted it to grams too, in case it is useful.